I am sitting at my desk with an arbutilon just outside, which means that during the day I am visited by tui and bellbirds, bumblebees,  sparrows and finches. They are a bit surprised to find me looking at them from such a short distance!

We also have a good population of fantails and waxeyes at the right time of year and every drive into town at this end of the year allows us to catch up with the Royal spoonbills and white-faced herons, shags, and seagulls.

There's a bunch of rosellas, great-great-x-many grandchildren of escapees from Dunedin Botanic Gardens, and a healthy population of hawks. They have figured out how to steal hen eggs from laying boxes...

A visitor caught sight of a Californian quail the other day but we haven't seen them since - secretive wee things!

The sparrows and finches thoroughly enjoy the outdoor feeding of hens and ducks (sharing is caring...) and the kereru  make the most of the kowhai and elderberries. Sadly the blackbirds are very adept at sneaking into the bird-netted red and black currants. Last year we were muttering darkly at the bird-pecked nashi, blaming the blackbirds... and then a bellbird came and ate one right in front of us. Hard to complain about that really. 

I don't know if the halo effect from Orokonui Eco-sanctuary is responsible for this great diversity of birds, but we are very appreciative!